While I like the idea to a degree, I don't think it will or should be implemented. That being said, if it were to happen this is how I envision it working. You would pick a Commander/Squadron Card before the game which would have 2 stats common to all such cards, and a unique ability. The first stat would be Initiative. The higher initiative commander/squadron in the game gives their squad initiative…not point build. The second stat would be a build total modifier. So to throw a random, poorly thought out example on the table…. "Grand Admiral Thrawn. Initiative 10. PB -7. Superior Tactics: You may wait until the beginning of the combat phase to perform any number of available actions. Fluff: Thrawn was an opponent to be feared for his ability to do more with less in any engagement."

KarmikazeKidd said:

Honestly, I think that's even more powerful than I'd want.  I'd almost prefer the card just be one free floating action or something to that effect.  

 I, for one, really like this idea. I don't think it should be used in tournaments, but that's alright because I think a lot of games are being played just for fun. This mechanic would be a neat optional rule that can affect gameplay in ways that aren't possible with normal upgrades, particularly because they should be global effects or effects that only target one fighter per round, or something.

I agree that commander cards should do relatively small things. The example of letting one fighter take a free focus action is a good one. You could also modify commander abilities by requiring a die roll to see if the effect happens or not.

Finally, I think it would be interesting if different commanders had different squad-building costs, so including a commander actually takes up part of your 100-point squad.

I am inspired by this idea, I think ill work on a custom for each side, lets say ackbar and thrawn. Gimmie a bit and lemme see what i can come up with.

Ok heres what i came up with. Play test em and tell me what should be adjusted. The cost might be a bit high or too low for one thing.

SPECIAL RULES

These cards play to table where your other pilot cards play but are NOT legal targets. Think of them as commander effects. The action on these cards is usable by your ships AS ONE OF ITS LEGAL ACTIONS. So for example Vader would be able to use Thrawns action on top of his 2  actions, unless he used a barrel roll this turn. SO for Thrawn its basically a free barrel roll action to the imps, for Ackbar the ship using that action takes 2 face down hits but basically gets a free critical hit on its target. So its like sacrificing your shields for a crit, which could be a fair trade off.

Anyway enjoy!

I can justify most of the Pilot Abilities in the game, because of the personas of the pilots themselves.  I can't find an explanation, at all, why having some Admiral that is removed by three chains of command would make me better at a barrel roll.  

Its just providing a free barrel roll action, call it better maneuver training if u want :P

Anyway yeah just tryin to come up with actions that can be used by the pilots to make the mechanic of the commanders work, so far i am liking it and cant wait to play test it. I choose thrawns because i think the free barrel roll action will make the imps much harder to deal with. After all he is Thrawn, not everything has to be super technical. Its for fun so enjoy it :) If u dont like them hey they r customs u dont gotta play em lol. Like i said this is just what i came up with. Plus I think these would be meant to be played with 100 pt games. Not small games.

Just made another 2 commanders. Admiral Drayson and Admiral Piett, I think they can play well against each other. Remember these ones arent stating that they r free actions, So these ones would be your ships action similar to using a marksmanship upgrade.

Ok thx for the suggestions budgernaut, I wanted to keep these cards still as action based but here are the revised thrawn and ackbar using the ideas you presented. I had to reword them just a bit to still make them action based but they basically still work the same as u suggested.